Backup 911 call centre approved

The city is devoting $2.3 million to create a backup 911 call centre, one with the same capabilities as the current call centre but vacant and unused until it’s needed. Council approved the project at an in-camera meeting Tuesday night, withholding the location of the new backup centre for security reasons. Though the project has been proposed for several years, the recent flooding, in combination with last year’s flood and tornado, underlines the need for the backup centre, Mayor Drew Dilkens said as he announced the project with Windsor police Chief Al Frederick. Frederick said last week’s flooding served as a “perfect example” of the demands placed on the call centre during an emergency and the need for redundancy in case something goes wrong. During a six-hour period on Aug. 29, the call centre fielded 887 calls between 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. In a normal 24-hour period, the call centre takes about 1,100 calls. “A good backup site,” he said, has to be located in a different place, on a different electrical grid than the existing call centre, “so if the hydro goes out, we can operate it independently without any interruption.” The police service operates the 911 call centre for all local emergency services, including police, fire and ambulance. “If one goes down, you can flip the switch,” the chief said. No new staff will be required, because staff would simply shift to the new location, he said. The current backup site only has a few phone lines and is located at police headquarters.